Previous research on individual differences in susceptibility to learned helplessness in school age children demonstrates that feedback about failure often leads to subsequent impaired performance for girls but not boys--responses that may have quite negative and perhaps even long-lasting effects on achievement level. The proposed line of research seeks to examine potential causes of girls' maladaptive responses to failure situations. First study proposed examines the hypothesis that girls are more likely than boys to develop an extrinsic motivational orientation (i.e., performing assignments primarily to please the teacher and/or to avoid criticism) which, in turn, should make them highly susceptible to helplessness deficits following failure feedback in an achievement setting. Two additional studies are proposed to examine processes which may underlie the development of an extrinsic motivational orientation in girls. One study investigates whether educators use more controlling strategies with girls as opposed to boys; a second study examines whether girls are more likely than boys to interpret and respond to feedback provided in an achievement setting as controlling, even if teachers do not employ different strategies with the two sexes.